"Humanize"

It starts as a faint melody, like the radio from a car turning onto your street. At first, "Humanize" sounds like a textbook girl group throwback—sunny harmonies, wistful lyrics, and a heartbeat snare pattern led by a big voice. But Lizzo, who is from Detroit and lives in Minneapolis and made her name as a rapper, isn't here to do what's already been done.

When she pulls up and the song really begins, "Humanize", which is about cautious optimism, booms forth with clarity. It's like if Sharon Jones made a song with Mike WiLL. By the end her voice will soar but it begins featherlight, collapsing into the pillowy thump of an 808. The hook triggers a series of crash cymbal explosions, nudging the ostensible tension of "Humanize" toward triumph, but it's the bridge—desolate and unmoored amidst the happiness—that gives Lizzo's pleasant banger a, uh, human edge.